SENATE PRESIDENCY: OPPOSITION PARTIES NOT PLANNING TO FRUSTRATE APC LEADERSHIP ON ZONING
….Vows to support “Best aspirant” from the ruling party
A ranking Senator representing Osun East Senatorial District in the Senate, Senator Francis Fadaunsi has debunked reports of opposition parties planning to gang up against the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) to produce the next Senate President.
Fadaunsi, an opposition member of the Parliament in a news report said rather than scheme for power, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) members were united in their resolve to contribute their quota to good governance in the next administration.
“The meeting of the minority Caucus has started but it is not to frustrate the APC leadership move on zoning.
We are prepared yo supports the best aspirant from the geo-political zone where the presiding officers’ positions would be zoned to”, he declared.
Speaking in the same vein, a North Central Senator-elect who pleaded anonymity said the minority Caucus would not rock the boat as far as constitution of the Presiding officers of the Senate is concerned.
According to him,”What we are after is the best candidate of the lot. And as far as some of us are concerned, the ruling party should know how to give us the best hand for the job. We are not unaware of legislative conventions around the world. Can we be different? No!”.
Meanwhile, another ranking Senator from the North East has raised the alarm over what he called desperate attempts by few Senators in opposition trying to coerce the ruling party to zone the Senate Presidency to either the South East or the South South.
The Senator who preferred not to be quoted said the few Senators have been deploying all sorts of tactics including guile against unsuspecting senators-elect into the Zoning issue apparently to weaken the base of the APC in the North especially the North West.
In his words, “The President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has to be extracareful of these tactics aimed at whipping up religious sentiments into issues as serious as the leadership of the Senate. The antics are aimed at ensuring that the APC in the North loses out of a strong political position so the opposition can have a field day planning and mopping up for 2027. They must not be allowed to succeed!”
In a related development, a chieftain of the APC in Kano State, Malam Muazu Dansarauniya, has advised the leadership of the party to zone the Senate presidency to the Northwest region.
Dansarauniya told newsmen in Kano at the weekend that the performance of the party in the zone during the presidential election has stood it in pole position for the top Parliamentarian seat.
He said that it is only fair, just and democratic for the party’s leadership to ensure that the seat for the Senate presidency comes to the Northwest and to Kano specifically, the political heartbeat of the north.
He explained that the APC, despite the votes it had contributed to the election of the President-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu, has only one senator, Sen. Barau Jibril, in Kano state and any mistake of not making him the Senate president will affect the strength and control of the region by the party.
“The President-elect and leadership of the party is to look at the votes recorded in the Northwest during the presidential election as a yard stick in zoning the Senate presidency to the region.
“We have done very well in this presidential election. We have contributed the most votes.
“So you see, even in terms of reward and recognition, we have the right to say we need to have the Senate presidency.
“The Presidency has gone to our partners in the Southwest, the Vice Presidency has gone to our partners in the Northeast, and the largest voting block and the largest political block deserves the presidency of the Senate,” he said.
Dansarauniya described the call by the NNPP as deliberately geared towards seizing control of the region by disallowing the APC to have a strong political leadership like the Senate president from the region.
He said that calls by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Reps-elect, Abdulmumin Kofa, who condemned allotting the Senate presidency to the North as a disservice to the nation.
“I believe that is unfair for a minority party to basically come in and dictate to the APC what to do.
“But very importantly, we need to look at the motive behind this statement.
“We know that Jibrin is from NNPP and the NNPP leader is from Kano and Kano is the heartbeat of Northwestern politics as well as Northern Nigeria.
“So what they are trying to do is to strategically convince APC not to put a political leader on that space so that they can monopolise the politics of the region. We can see their plans,” said the APC chieftain.
“Therefore, if NNPP people are saying that you don’t love Nigeria if you say you are giving us the Senate presidency, it is just a strategy to mobilise and have the entire Northwest to themselves, which is a very important block.
“Now we have seen how close this election has been, Northwest votes alone could have physically doubled what the rest of Nigerian votes could have given if we galvanise and institutionalise support in the region.
“So I’m calling on our leaders, the National Chairman of our party, the President-elect, to look at what the president has outlined as a government of national competence, and when we look at competence, we will not go beyond our senatorial presentation in Kano in the person of Sen. Barau Jibril.
“Some people talk about fairness and equity in terms of politics. I want to highlight this, democracy has a principal rule, this rule is about participation,” Dansarauniya explained.
“You cannot not participate and then ask for a reward. The people that are asking for a reward, we are asking them to galvanise themselves, organise themselves in the next election and contribute to the success of the party.
“So you cannot basically deny the party votes and when the party is basically and equitably and fairly sharing its positions you now say because of national unity, you want to take the critical position.
“All I’m saying to our brothers in other regions is 2027 is not far away, go back, work hard, join us to make success of the next election and you will get your fair share of reward and recognition,” he said.